Fact of the day

Information is the most powerful weapon.

Monday

Fact N°
2231

Men generally care about honor above all else.

A Kinsey Institute study surveyed nearly 28,000 adult men in eight countries, asking them to articulate what was important in their lives. Since the study was initially an erectile dysfunction study, the men were asked other questions regarding that condition as well, but all responses from men with and without ED were included in the results. Above all, the men expressed the importance of being seen as a "man of honor," and that, along with "being in control of your own life," accounted for 60% of their responses.

Tuesday

Fact N°
2232

Swearing reduces physical pain.

Researchers at Keele University in the UK found that swearing can have a painkilling power, especially for people who don't regularly curse. Dr. Richard Stephens and other scientists conducted an experiment with student volunteers. The students were asked to submerge their arms into a bucket of icy water while repeatedly uttering a swearword. They then repeated the experiment while repeating a "harmless" word instead of a swear. The results showed that volunteers were able to keep their arms in the icy water longer when they were swearing than they could when they were uttering the non-swearword.

Wednesday

Fact N°
2233

The world's most expensive apartment is a $221 million penthouse in London.

Apartments at the development One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, central London, start at around Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£6 million pounds (just under $10 million). The Ukrainian buyer of "Flat A" paid $221 million for his unfinished apartment, and reportedly spent another $100 million on interior decoration. The apartment covers the top three floors in its complex, and, like almost all of the other apartments, was purchased through an overseas trust.

Thursday

Fact N°
2234

People who spend their free time sitting have a 20% higher death rate.

Even with all other factors taken into account (including diet and exercise), being entirely sedentary is a dangerous lifestyle. A series of studies by Mayo-Clinic researcher Dr. Ken Levine gauged the impact of inactivity by monitoring his subjects with a sensor apparatus that recorded their every movement. Even though the subjects all had the same caloric intake and were prohibited from exercise, some subjects -- those who unconsciously fidgeted or moved around more -- didn't gain weight. Conversely, occasional exercise doesn't quite offset being sedentary for long stretches, which decreases your insulin effectiveness and increases your risk for diabetes.

Friday

Fact N°
2235

The world's first skyscraper was intended to convince hunter-gatherers to take up farming.

Jericho is possibly the oldest continually-inhabited site in the world, with a history that dates back over 10,000 years. Early in the Neolithic period, an era characterized by a movement toward farming and settlements, a 28-foot tower was constructed at the city's outskirts. The tower took around 10 years to build, and Tel Aviv University researchers suggest that it was a cosmological marker meant to symbolically connect the settlement with its outlying hills and the surrounding nomadic peoples. Researchers also argue that this makes the tower the world's first public building.

Saturday

Fact N°
2236

Men's and women's faces have grown to resemble each other over the centuries.

A study of skulls (found in Spain and Portugal, and dating back to the 16th century) revealed that differences between men's and women's facial structures are less pronounced than they were hundreds of years ago. Though the remains of both genders evidenced this change, it was particularly obvious in women. Researchers noted, for example, that facial structure in modern Spanish women was much larger than it was in older skulls (possibly due to nutritional improvements).

Sunday

Fact N°
2237

Numerous historical and contemporary accounts describe people dying of laughter.

Kings, writers and philosophers dating back thousands of years have been said to have died of laughter (Chrysippus of Soli, an Athenian logician and stoic, allegedly died while laughing -- by some accounts drunkenly -- at the thought of feeding a donkey wine and figs. In 1975, a bricklayer named Alex Mitchell in Norfolk, England died after 25 minutes of laughter while watching an episode of The Goodies, though his official cause of death was heart failure.